Was Jesus Christ free to sin?

In one of my recent posts I argued that Jesus could not have sinned. Moreover, I argued that he did not struggle psychologically with sin -- he did not find it enticing. And this, rather than the common view that he was attracted to sin but managed to refrain from it, provides us with a goal for our own sanctification.

One of my readers, Bujo, disagrees. Bujo counters: "If Christ was fully man, then he had the ability to sin." The assumption here is that human nature entails the ability to sin.This is a contentious assumption however. There is no agreement among philosophers on what are the necessary and sufficient properties to constitute the human nature (what philosophers call a kind-essence). And I certainly don't accept Bujo's assumption.

For one thing Bujo faces a dilemma: accept either that human beings will still be able to sin in heaven, or admit that they will cease to be human in heaven.

Bujo then says: "if Christ was fully man and he could NOT sin then where was Christ's freewill?"

This assumes that free will requires the ability to do anything. But certainly this is not the case.

Consider the following illustration: I go the cafeteria for some dessert. There are three available options: peach pie, chocolate cake, and mushroom souffle. Now let me let you in on a secret: I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE MUSHROOMS! Consequently, there is no chance that I, of my own free will, would choose the mushroom souffle. As for the peach pie and chocolate cake, I'd say it's a toss up. I'm free to choose either one.

In this analogy the mushroom souffle represents a sinful choice while the other two desserts represent two good choices. Even if Jesus necessarily could not choose the sinful choice, he could still choose either peach pie or chocolate cake.

So shall it be with us. In the future we will all look at sin the same way I now look at mushrooms: I AIN'T EATIN' THAT! But we will still have an innumerable number of other options in the heavenly cafeteria line, an infinite number of wonderful choices: peach pie, chocolate cake, apple cobbler, fudge brownies, and on and on and on. And to top it off, they'll all be more nutritious than spinich!

Now that is a free will worth fightin' for!